1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to data processing and, in particular, to microprocessor power management. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method, apparatus, and program product for monitoring variable speed microprocessor performance caused by power management.
2. Description of Related Art
Advances in microprocessor technology are being paced by power consumption and cooling issues. Many high performance microprocessors in the future may need to be designed to automatically adapt their power consumption based on measurements of their internal state or surroundings. This implies that the performance of the microprocessor may be throttled or adapted downward in periods of high activity or environmental stress.
Today's computer systems are generally designed to supply an environment where all the microprocessors run at the same basic level of performance. In some cases, it may be possible to mix and match microprocessor types, resulting in some running at a faster speed and others running at a slower speed. In general, however, software sees a constant level of performance per processor.
With increasing emphasis on power management, software may execute in an environment where microprocessor performance within a complex system can vary dramatically from processor to processor or time period to time period. This variation may cause performance issues with the workloads of some customers. These issues may consist of such varying symptoms as run-to-run variability of processor consumption, scalability problems, and loss of external interrupts, for example.